WHAT’S NEW
— The new constitution limits the scope of Islamic law in the country’s legislation, something Islamist groups enshrined in the 2012 constitution.
— It also ensures equality between women and men, and upholds the freedom of religion.
— But the charter also gives the military the right to appoint its defense minister for the next eight years, and leaves its vast business holdings above oversight.
WHAT’S NEXT
— The next step is up to interim President Adly Mansour. He is expected to call for presidential elections before parliamentary elections, reversing the order initially laid out by military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
— The general is considered the top contender for the presidency.
News services
Almost everyone who cast ballots supported Egypt’s new constitution in this week’s referendum, results announced Saturday show, but a boycott by Islamists and low youth turnout suggest the country is still dangerously divided.
Nearly 20 million voters backed the new constitution, almost double the number of those who voted for one drafted in 2012 under the government of toppled Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. Only a narrow sliver of voters — 1.9 percent — voted against the charter, after a massive government-sponsored campaign supporting it and the arrest of activists campaigning against it.
“Despite a milieu of intense social upheaval and acts of terrorism and sabotage that sought to derail the process, Egyptians have now marked yet another defining moment in our road map to democracy,” presidential spokesman Ehab Badawy said. “The outcome represents nothing less than the dawning of a new Egypt.”
The expected overwhelming support for the charter is seen as key to legitimizing Egypt’s military-backed interim government, and the political plan put in place since Morsi’s ouster in July. Analysts say it also suggests military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who led the coup against Morsi, has enough popular support to make a rumored run for the presidency himself.
It was the first vote since the military removed Morsi following massive protests in July. Hundreds celebrated in the streets after officials announced the results, including Hoda Hamza, a housewife who waved an Egyptian flag in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and carried a picture of el-Sissi with an inscription reading: “By the order of the people, el-Sissi is president.”
Hamza called the passage of the constitution a foregone conclusion.
Now, “I wish el-Sissi will be president,” Hamza said. “We have no better man. … If it weren’t for the army, we wouldn’t have food on the table.”
Morsi supporters, who boycotted the vote, immediately challenged the results. Despite being outlawed and labeled a terrorist group, Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and its allies continue to hold near-daily protests that often devolve into clashes with police.
“Even if 38 percent of the voters took part, that still means that 62 percent of the public rejects” the interim government, said Imam Youssef, a member of the Brotherhood’s coalition against the July coup and an ultraconservative Islamist party. “They are trying to legitimize their coup.”
Egypt’s High Election Commission said 38.6 percent of the country’s more than 53 million eligible voters took part in the two-day poll Tuesday and Wednesday. Judge Nabil Salib, who heads the commission, called the participation of 20.6 million voters an “unrivaled success” and “an unprecedented turnout.”
In 2012, some 16.7 million voters cast ballots on the constitution drafted under Morsi, representing a 32.9 percent turnout amid a boycott by liberal and youth groups. In that election, 63.8 percent voted for the constitution.
Activists and monitoring groups have raised concerns about this new election. U.S.-based Democracy International, which had some 80 observers in Egypt, said a heavy security deployment and the layout of some of the polling stations “could have jeopardized voters’ ability to cast a ballot in secret.”
“There is no evidence that such problems substantially affected the outcome of this referendum, but they could affect the integrity or the credibility of more closely contested electoral processes in the future,” the group said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry raised similar concerns in a statement, calling on Egypt’s government to live up to its pledge to respect and expand rights while moving toward a civilian-led government through free and fair elections.
“Democracy is more than any one referendum or election,” Kerry said.
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